How has COVID-19 altered your recommendations for invasive mediastinal staging for NSCLC?

Topics: Radiation Oncology • Thoracic Malignancies • Medical Oncology • Thoracic Surgery • NCI-CCC Tumor Board Question • Yale • COVID-19 • NCI-CCC Thoracic Tumor Board Question • Pulmonology

Should staging and treatment decisions be made based on imaging alone?

Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Academic Institution

I just had this discussion with our chief of interventional pulmonolgy at MD Anderson. Some of his faculty are being asked to staff our COVID-19 patient floor. In addition, bronchoscopy procedures should be considered high-risk procedures, and are required to have at least 45 minutes in between proc...

Comments

Radiation Oncologist at Allentown Radiation Oncology Associates
I completely agree with @Percy Lee's comments abov...

Radiation Oncologist at UCLA | VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System
One might alternatively be more careful at this ti...

Radiation Oncologist at City of Hope
Indeed @Drew Moghanaki, we are in agreement. One h...

Answer from: Medical Oncologist at Academic Institution

It certainly has pushed me more to using EBUS than mediastinoscopy and having to give patients the benefit of the doubt even when the EBUS retrieves only a small sample.

Related Questions